Nikon help please

Gary Kinghorn

Gary Kinghorn

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I know nothing about Nikon gear so need a little help please.

A chap at work has a D50 he is looking to upgrade. Although he's a blithering idiot he's really trying to learn how to take nice shots. He's from the north and a self confessed tight git too.

He has a small budget and would like something which is capable of taking a heavier crop, is better at higher ISO, has movie taking capabilities and as a by product is more intuitive with its controls.

He has found a second hand D5000 at LCE for £199.

Castle cameras which is local to him are selling new D5100 for £299

Looking at the specs I'm suggesting that for an extra £100 I would buy the new one with more MP, better controls and a decent warranty. This is really more than he wants to spend but maybe it's worth paying?

Your help would be appreciated. What should he buy?
 
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Hi Gary

Well, I'd say if his priorities were as you say "a camera that is capable of taking a heavier crop" then the 5100 is the better option of course due to higher MP. I would imagine the ISO differences between the 5000 & 5100 is pretty negligible but of course the 5100 with newer tech may fare better here too. Having used neither of these camera I can't say for sure how they will perform

I would say though that moving from a D50 to a 5100 isn't that much of an upgrade and would sway me to sticking to the D50. Is there a good reason why more MP/crop capability is needed? If there isn't then I'd stick with the D50 and save myself a few hundred quid. I would even consider buying a used D90 (though I'm not sure if the D90 does video).

Lenses will be compatible in that they will fit. Whether they'll auto focus is something I'm sure someone here will confirm, if not the shop definitely will tell you (if you take the lens in).

In short I'd go for the 5100 over the 5000. I'd only move from the D50 if I had a good reason to or if I felt I just really wanted a new camera because I had some extra cash floating about.

Hope this helps.
 
Do you know what lenses he has? The D50 has a built in focus motor so it's possible he has AF or AF-D lenses that will auto focus on a D50 but not on a D5000/5100.

The lenses he has will also have a bearing on how much cropping he'll get away with regardless of sensor size. If his lenses are decent, more MP will help though.

Personally, I'd find it difficult moving from something D50 sized to a D5000 or D5100. If the budget allows a D90 or a bigger stretch to a D7000 would seem a more logical upgrade.
 
Yeah, I'd go for D90 (for the D lenses). This was one reason why I sold my D5100.
 
Second hand D90 with about 15000 clicks goes for around £260-£280, double the pixels of the D50, and plenty of other features, and of course he will be able to use the lenses he already has, that's what i would be going for myself :)
 
Gary Kinghorn said:
He would like something which ... is more intuitive with its controls.
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That's an interesting issue. I'm not familiar with the exact differences between the Nikon D50, D5000 and D5100, but there will be more similarities than differences. How the controls, menus, etc work is deeply baked into the cameras' DNA by the manufacturer.

And these things can be very personal. I find Canons intuitive and Nikons illogical, and I know people who think the opposite. Maybe your friend is like me. Obviously I don't know how wedded he is to Nikon, but it might be worth him looking at switching to a different system. (Not necessarily Canon, but just one that he finds more intuitive.)
 
StewartR said:
it might be worth him looking at switching to a different system.
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There is nowhere better than the darkside :D. Seriously i think there are more similarities in the D50 menu, and the D90 menu, i've only looked at the D5100 briefly, but from what i recall, there were a few differences in the menu to the D90, i think the D90 is a great little camera, i only sold mine, as i got a good deal on a D300.
 
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